NERV rocket use stupid from low Kerbin orbit? (Jool)

[MagicFireCaster]

Don't worry we all feel like that, even more when we discovered it by ourseflves and think: Oh! man i will have to launch it again!

You can try to revert to the point where you can change still change your inclination, then create a maneuver at the inclination node, after that set the focus view to jool so see a preview of the inclination and the orbit. The maneuver bug happened to me too, glad you were able to fix it just by returning to the space center menu.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Yeah - playing around with the lack of maneuver nodes I discovered you can focus on Jool and see the orbital paths.  Was very glad to see the ability to set maneuver nodes return.

 

I've never been one to RTFM - but man I wish I had sometimes.  Gotta hand it to the devs (and testers); this is a game with a LOT of hidden complexity that I find quite intriguing and enjoyable.  I also really appreciate the community for helping an old tanker like me figure stuff out!

[Snark]

47 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Ach, this game!

lol, amen to that!  Glad it's working out for you, congratulations!

Incidentally-- too late to do any good, and all that, but worth mentioning for future reference-- solar panels really suck when you're out at Jool.  They provide very little power, be prepared for that.  In terms of electric power per mass, by the time you get out to Jool, solar panels lose out to RTGs.  For my own missions to Jool and beyond, I generally wait until I've unlocked RTGs before I go out there.  Then I use RTGs for power and completely eschew solar panels.

(For mining ships:  fuel cell arrays.  Drills use insane amounts of power, it takes 20 RTGs to power a single drill!  At Jool and beyond, fuel cells are the only realistic way to power a mining setup.  So as long as you land somewhere that has an ore concentration high enough to put you above the break-even point for fuel cells, that's the way to supply your heavy-duty power needs.  Be sure to have a high-level engineer along, really helps get past the break-even point.  If you're just doing an exploratory run with no mining, you can get by with just RTGs.)

 

So anyway, tempting as it is to start typing here about tips & tricks for setting up your Jool encounter while you're still far away... that's actually a very interesting topic in its own right, seems like a shame to bury it down here on the tail end of this thread where it's less likely for other innocent bystanders to see it and possibly become enlightened.

Suggestion:  Open a new thread, with a subject like "How should I set up my Jool encounter?" or the like.  Then we can happily go to town on it. 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

5 minutes ago, Snark said:

lol, amen to that!  Glad it's working out for you, congratulations!

[snip = good stuff /snip]

Suggestion:  Open a new thread, with a subject like "How should I set up my Jool encounter?" or the like.  Then we can happily go to town on it. 

I'll do that: having bludgeoned my way into this: I can see future (better planned / manned) missions coming up.

[Plusck]

8 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

I've never been one to RTFM - but man I wish I had sometimes.  Gotta hand it to the devs (and testers); this is a game with a LOT of hidden complexity that I find quite intriguing and enjoyable.  I also really appreciate the community for helping an old tanker like me figure stuff out!

On thing that's actually missing from KSP is that FM to read. There are thousands of hints and tutorials, plus the wiki, but it isn't easy to find the info if you don't know exactly what you're looking for.

[numerobis]

And half the wiki is out of date.

In the settings.cfg you can increase the number of conic sections to patch together. I usually have it at 5, rather than the default 3, so that I have a better impression of where I'll end up after an assist. You can also change the draw mode; draw mode 0 is often better for planning assists.

[Wemb]

On 12/01/2016 at 5:59 PM, Snark said:

Note that you can save a metric crapload of dV

Ah, I wondered what had replaced the imperial f*ckton.  I thought it might have been the shedload, but I'm glad we're using a more sensible unit now.

Wemb
(edited for the wiki giving me the delightfull replacement unit of 'loveton' instead..)

Edited January 14, 2016 by Wemb